Election Commission of India shall announce the dates for assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana on Friday. If the dates are confirmed by Friday, the elections are most likely to take place in October.
Once the dates of assembly elections for Maharashtra and Haryana are announced by the Election Commission of India, the Model Code of Conduct will come in to foreplay in both the states. The Model Code of Conduct implies that the ruling government cannot make any new announcements, roll out new schemes or influence the voters in any manner using its authority of office.
Ahead of assembly elections, let’s take a look at the 2014 assembly elections for both the states. September 12 was announced as the date for the two state assembly elections in 2014, where voting took place on October 15 and results were out on October 19, 2014.
After facing a bitter loss during the last assembly elections, Congress has entered into a pre-poll alliance with Nationalist Congress Party this time. The two parties have agreed to contest on 126 seats each, leaving room for smaller alliances.
In 2014, Haryana’s Assembly polls were jaw dropping since everyone was riding high on the Modi wave. The BJP conquered 47 seats, where Congress had 15 seats in its kitty. On the other hand, Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD (Indian National Lok Dal) got only 19 seats back in 2014.
Ahead of assembly elections, BJP has already started its poll campaigns with a Jan Ashirwad Yatra and a PM Modi rally in Rohtak. The Congress party is yet to launch such campaigns since the party is bleak at the core.